Airspace - Aerospace Department, IIT Bombay

DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING I I T B O M B A Y

2017-18

Amazing World of Civil Aviation Stargazing - James Webb Style From Snitches to Dragons Professors : Informal Inside : Tech Teams

Don't Panic!

DGsec's Letter Hello, Hope this letter finds you well!

Aerospace Engineering Association (AEA) is formed jointly by students and faculty members of the department of Aerospace Engineering to bridge the gap between both of them and to act as a platform for everyone to come together under a common umbrella and socialise with each other. After I assumed office ( Sept 20 th 2017), the AEA council has been working till date to achieve our goal of maximizing the interaction among students and faculty members. With a short tenure of less than 5 months, we tried our best to offer you genuine services . You will find some of our work as you read through this magazine.

May I, on behalf of AEA council, thank all students, faculty members and staff members for their presence and support in all our events that gave meaning to the efforts that we put in in organization and execution. This not only gave us satisfaction, but also a strong desire to work harder and to excel.

Hope you will have a pleasant time reading our magazine!

Thanks With warm Regards Athul Viswam General Secretary 2017-18 On behalf of AEA Council 2017-2018

Letter from the Editor Once upon a time, two voyagers embarked on a journey to skirt the outskirts of our solar system. An ambitious project, it went out to become a huge achievement and was eternally carved on the golden plates of history as the biggest feat after moon landing. Of late, space technology has been advancing rapidly and India with its Chandrayaans and Mangalyaans has become one of world’s leading players. Recently, history got a new golden leaf added to its crusty pages - the one which boasts of reusable boosters. Close to home, the airplane population is set to increase by a colossal amount in the next 5 years, requiring air traffic controllers to be perpetually coffee charged. TCAS and fly by wire technologies improving substantially, air travel is becoming safer by the hour, but what about tracking a plane?

Will we be technologically advanced enough to avoid another Amelia Earhart or MH370, two similar events distanced by 77 years!

Yes. Sure we will. It just requires a handful of dedicated engineers to figure out a practical solution not only to this, but to all problems plaguing the Earth right now.

These very engineers-in-making present forth this magazine, a celebration of what we students indulge in in this institute - technical bodies, sporty activities, and cultural extravaganzas.

As the editor of this magazine, I have put in humble efforts to present the Aerospace Department in its full grandeur and triumph, revealing the nooks and corners of the department which are enchantingly beguile, but known only to a scarce handful. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, as said by Keats, and I want to share this joy with each reader of this magazine. Some out-of-the-league articles are also included here, like Fantastic Flyers and Where To Find Them, and for the first time in the history of the department, we have included articles written by students of other departments who are enthused by the prospect of flying and I swear by the excellence of SR-71 that these are pure gems. Do not miss Who’s Who in Civil Aviation and the experience of Aman flying an RC Plane.

This magazine is a result of the dedicated hard work put in by each of the contributors and I thank each one of them, especially Aditya Patil, for designing all this mundane text and making it look like a figment of a fairy tale right out of a Disney movie. We hope that all the readers will be equally excited and satisfied after reading this magazine as we were after moulding it!

Apurv Tiwari Editor, Airspace 2017-18

The greatest pic of 21st century?

The greatest YET. This is just the beginning of a giant tsunami of advancement in space technology!

CONT 8 11 12 13

Who's Who in Civil Aviation Young Tiger in the Woods World Wide Webb Fantastic Flyers and Where to Find Them

16 AUV 20 Mars Society India 22 Rakshak 25 Satellite Team History of Team Adwitiya

30

14 Game of Drones 15

Silence is Golden

Ham Radio Club

Team Shunya

E

T

32 Student Designers QnA with Profs

40 Vidya Roopen Sansthita 41 Winning Entry for COPT logo design competition

36

42 PG Culturals 44 Intership Experience : AIRBUS 46 Aeroacoustics : A Musical Journey of Palash 47 Aman 48 Moja podróż do Polski 49 My Encounter with the Placement Season 50 The Queen of Dance 52 PG Sports

53 AEA Council Work Report

ENTS

AirspacE

WHO’S WHO IN CIVIL AVIATION?

W

~ SAKSHAY BHATIA, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, 3RD YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

ith the number of domestic passengers

like Shimla, Bhatinda, Ludhiana, Jaisalmer or even Bikaner

flying each year crossing the 100 million

are now just a flight away from Delhi. Even the immensely

mark, it won’t be wrong to say that India

beautiful Pondicherry can now be accessed through a

is a largely attractive market for airlines to enter and grow,

daily Spicejet flight from Bengaluru or Hyderabad. But

despite the biting fuel and airport charges. With 2 big

what remains a large question here though, with the

airlines entering into the Indian Market in the past 5 years,

aircraft fuel vanishing at a drastic rate and the prices for

flying has become cheaper and easier than ever. To top it

the same constantly shooting up, is it the most feasible

all, under the UDAN scheme started by the government,

decision to provide such penetrated connectivity, or is it

the smallest of airports of the country are now connected

better to inconvenience people and have them travel to

to their closest metros with mere flights of 50 mins to 1

their closest metro airport to catch a flight? Government,

hour duration, with a ticket price limit of 2500 for the

very enthusiastically, has introduced UDAN, the acronym

first 50% seats sold. Beyond this enormous growth in the

for “Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik”, providing subsidy to

number of metal birds in the air, the past 5 years have

airlines for operating on particular routes which might

also seen a turnaround named Spicejet and an inspiring

otherwise be unprofitable for the airline, thus luring the

expansion story which calls itself Vistara. Indigo too, with

airline to do what the government wants. Big airlines

its target to penetrate deeper in association with UDAN,

like Air India via Alliance Air, Indigo with its new fleet of

is enjoying success with its new fleet of ATR aircrafts.

ATR aircrafts, and Spicejet with their Bombardier Q400 aircrafts are now connecting India like never before.

The past year saw one of the most undiscovered airports

Beyond this, we have new airlines coming in too, betting

of the country becoming active and getting connected

on the UDAN scheme, like Air Deccan and Zoom Air.

through 72-76 seater planes to larger cities thus making it much easier for people to reach out, boosting not just the

Beyond the debate surrounding UDAN and its success,

travel industry but businesses across India as well. Places

what has been a hot topic is surely the privatisation of our

8

8

AirspacE

national carrier. With the heavy debts of 52,000 crore rupees,

to tread on particular profitable routes, like providing

every day there’s a news of some or the other airline being

daily direct flights between Delhi and San Francisco

interested in taking part in disinvestment, but most part of

and even Delhi and Washington DC, strengthening

it has been floated around merely as a rumour. Moreover,

their footprints in the US being their ulterior benefit.

every second day one gets to read that Air India may even be interested to sell itself out in separate parts, selling out In pretty recent history, there has been an upward trend in the number of passengers flying from Tier II cities to international destinations,

thus

many

new

flights have also begun, connecting these smaller airports to hot destinations outside India. Jaipur is now connected to Kuala Lumpur, Amritsar to Birmingham, Lucknow to Sharjah, Bhubaneswar to Kuala Lumpur, Chandigarh to Bangkok and many more. Another big thing airports saw last year was doing away with the stamping of hand bags which started with its domestic and international counterparts to different

airports

like

Delhi,

Mumbai,

airlines. Amidst all this drama, where the government still

Bengaluru etc but has now penetrated to Tier II cities

doesn’t seem to have arrived at a firm decision, Air India saw

like Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune etc. too. Last year, India’s

a sudden jump in its on time performance eyeing the change

biggest airport - IGI, too underwent a mid day closure

of the CEO last year. Where Air India always used to fall last

for 3 consecutive days for runway recarpeting, making

in OTP every month, for the past 3 months it has always

operations go haywire for all, affecting flights to all

figured in the top 3, which indeed is a big thing to boast about.

destinations and in turn causing one way prices to shoot

Moreover, after a huge gap of many years, Air India started

up for even nearby destinations to about ₹10,000! In a

making profits last year through implementing cost cutting

survey conducted recently, another big revelation came

measures (like providing only Veg food on board) and starting

to light, Delhi-Mumbai is surprisingly the third busiest

9

AirspacE route (in terms of number of passengers flying) in the world with 65 daily flights (one side) connecting the two metros.

In past 5 years, Air Asia India and Vistara have been two big entrants into the market and have captured significant share in the Indian skies. Though what’s interesting to note is that TATA is a major stakeholder in both companies and is helping both expand at a steady rate. Air Asia India is based in Bengaluru and recently went on an expansion streak by addition of new destinations like Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Indore while reintroducing flights to the city they started with in 2014 - Chennai. Vistara with its hub at Delhi also introduced flights to Chennai, and reintroduced flights to Varanasi. Why should Vistara be considered as a success story

though?

Years after Kingfisher drowned, India is finally getting to see an airline with customer service and satisfaction as the priority.

Providing the most comfortable seats, the best food and unmatched services, Vistara has clearly structured itself as the most premium airline of the country at prices comparable to other low cost carriers. With the first ever premium economy of the country, Vistara is enjoying a pleasant preference among passengers, especially business travellers who wish to indulge in leisure while travelling for work.

This year too should end on an eventful note, with rumours of Indigo planning to buy an entirely new fleet of A 330 Neo planes for low cost long haul international operations, Vistara beginning with international flights by the end of the year and our national carrier mostly getting privatised by then. With airports like Mumbai reaching its slots maxima, Delhi airport unable to handle rush at its domestic terminal, it won’t be wrong to claim that airlines expansion plans aren’t really hand in hand with how much our airports can handle. Let’s just hope the Indian skies become one of the most densely populated one day, enabling every person to fly and making travel easier than ever.

10

10

BY HARSHAL JOSHI, 3rd YEAR UG, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

AirspacE

Young Tiger in the woods

AirspacE

WORLD WIDE WEBB

~ PUJAN BISWAS, AEROSPACE EGINEERING, 2ND YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

I

t has been around three

decades that our most beloved Hubble telescope has been in service of humanity. We have discerned a lot about the universe, it’s start and current state, all thanks to Hubble. A giant jump in astronomical knowledge indeed. Aiding it, we had Chandra X-Ray observatory as well, delivering us oceans of data throughout its 19 years of fascinating career. But, it was about time for the next mammoth leap. Presenting, the James-Webb Space Telescope (JWST). With its revolutionary design and technology, JWST will unleash a new dawn of discovery and revelations.

Being a joint venture of NASA, European space agency, and the Canadian space agency; it signifies the magnitude of the project.

Scheduled to be launched into orbit in 2019 by Ariane V rocket, we hope lady luck would be on our side on that important day.

Speaking of orbits, JWST does something remarkable and unique, it won’t orbit the earth but the sun in the prescribed L2 orbital topology! Complex orbital mechanics are put into play to achieve the desired orbit as JWST says goodbye to planet blue.

A never done endeavor before, JWST plans to deploy sun-shield membranes, each thinner than a human air to block the heatlight interference from the sun and the earth to create the perfect backdrop for watching the utter abyss. Technology sees being stretched to it’s very limit as temperature differences of 260°C in a matter of centimeters defines the real ‘Ice and Fire’ for us. With a lot of infrared sensors in its arsenal and thrice the aperture of Hubble, JWST plans to look much deeper into the unknown well of eternity, also allowing us a peek in the very beginnings of the universe. Observing in the infrared is a key technique for achieving this, because it penetrates the obscuring dust and gas better which allows observation of dim cooler objects, and also because of cosmological redshift. Cryogenic systems for cooling ensure that the telescope performs at it’s very best. Data will be transmitted from JWST to the ground via NASA's Deep Space Network and then distributed online to astronomers worldwide to build the perfect community of budding scientists and professional experts.

What do we, as students get an advantage from this? Another chapter in our science textbook? I feel this is a notion propagated by the ‘not-really lovers’ of science. Getting your questions answered is a dream of every human. Eventually, we might be able to get the solution to bigger questions of life like where we come from!

12

12

AirspacE

Fantastic Flyers and Where To Find Them

~ ANMOL SIKKA, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING, 3RD YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

A

lmost when I found my passion in Aerospace, I also started reading fiction novels. Though both came late, but have been a continuous part of my life ever since. Fiction provides me with the alternate realities to hide in but you can’t hide from your passion. I remember the first instance of reading Hardy

Boys: In Plane Sight - a story involving the detective brothers solving a mystery at an airshow. One of the characters had this awesome skill, to judge the airplane flying overhead by just the sound of its engines - the then younger me wanted that skill so badly, not knowing that in India the low altitude flying aircrafts like Cessna 182 are so less.

Over the years, I have read so many fictional novels, genre being fantasy and how can we the Wizarding World. Harry Potter is things which fly. From Brooms to Thestrals,

my

favourite

talk about this without talking about the closest series to my heart and it’s full of everything fascinates a book and aerospace nerd

l i k e

me. I have always wondered why Firebolt was faster than Nimbus Series, did wizards hire Aerodynamics e x p e r t s to shape the Brooms? That would be one of the coolest dream jobs. Apart from that, JK Rowling’s world is full of flying Fantastic Beasts, Thestrals, Hippogriff, Thunderbird, Dragons. The Hippogriffs always puzzled me, how could they fly with such Blunt bodies, similar questions can be asked for Dragons.

And how can we talk about the dragons without referring to A Song of Ice and Fire (for those who are wondering, it is the series on which Game of Thrones is based). Dragons are such vicious characters, with scaly bodies, fire breathing mouths, sharp claws and none of these features helping in flying. The scaly bodies must be increasing the skin friction drag, and if the fire was exhausted backwards it may contribute to thrust but both just increase the total drag.

I don’t have much experience with Computational Fluid Dynamics or I would definitely have analysed these Beasts and Brooms. Although if someone wants to help, I may be able to model them :P. Contact me we’ll get along, and I think that we will get along really well!

13

AirspacE

Silence is Golden

This is the silent room used for research on aeroacoustics - the noise made by engines of planes. The utter soundlessness inside the room fills one with peace, but this peace turns out to be frightening after about 10 minutes inside! Do drop by and have a look at this â‚š80 Lakh project in the High Speed Aerodynamics Lab.

14

14

AirspacE

Game of Drones

This is a hexacopter, named by virtue of it having 6 rotors. It is one of the marvels built by the MAV Lab of the Aerospace Department. One may visit this anytime just outside the back gate of the Aero Annex building.

15

AirspacE

AUV

AUV-IITB started its journey in 2011 and comprises of highly hard

enthusiastic working

ranging

from

and

technocrats bright-eyed

freshmen to driven senior undergraduates experienced

and

tech-

postgraduates

spanning various branches of engineering like Mechanical, Electrical,

Software,

Aerospace, Material Science and Civil at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. The team works towards participating at AUVSI Robosub Competition, which is held annually in July at San Diego, California. The competition is a platform

The main task carried out by us are:

for students to display their skills in underwater robotics

•

and build a connection with industries working along

Battery and Power Management: Dedicated boards regulate the flow of power across the vehicle. Crucial

similar verticals. The competition demands designing and

tasks such as level conversion, battery merging

manufacturing of an autonomous underwater vehicle that

and

can perform predefined tasks. This draws upon expertise

emergency

precautions

are

undertaken.

This is truly the ‘Powerhouse’ of the vehicle.

of the areas of engineering provided by a multifaceted team. Currently we are a 38-membered team developing

•

Communication:

The

electrical

sub-division

is

cutting edge technology for Autonomous Underwater

responsible for the communications protocol on

Vehicles (AUV).The development of an AUV is a year long

board. We act as an interface between the code written

process

assembly,

by our friends in the Software Team, the external

testing, integration and competition preparation. In order

environment, and vehicle developed by our Mechanical

to accelerate the development of MATSYA our team is

Sub-division. From controlling the thrusters to firing

structured into three sub divisions viz Mechanical, Electrical

torpedoes and dropping markers, we do it all! We

and Software. Every year the team puts in 30,000 man hours

make the vehicle as interactive and alive as possible.

involving

design,

manufacturing,

for the development and integration of our AUV MATSYA.

•

Electrical Subdivision

Being an amazing

AUV requires some exciting sensors to be placed on board. We provide the interface to these

The Electrical Sub-Division is responsible for handling

sensors and ensure that they work as required.

the electrical requirements of the sensors, thrusters, onboard computer, cameras and much more.

16

Sensor Setup and Interfacing:

•

16

What else? As a subdivision, we are constantly on

AirspacE

the look-out for new ideas and technologies that can be incorporated into our electronic stack. We work throughout the year improving our AUV - one wire at a time! •

How do we do this? We develop custom designed PCB’s (Printed Circuit Boards ) which are then finished and tested before being deployed into the vehicle.Mechanical Subdivision

Engineering

is

solving

problems

and

Mechanical Subdivision works specifically on

bringing

all

possible

mechanical

advancements in the vehicle to solve a problem. Making waterproof enclosures for sensors and electronics, designing the frame of the vehicle and implementation of actuation system to run torpedos, markers and gripper, all comes under Mechanical Subdivision. Every problem is first analyzed thoroughly to see

include drivers, localisation, controller, navigator, simulator,

how mechanical devices or subsystems can be introduced to

state machine, mission planner, vision and acoustics, all

solve that problem. Then, with the help of computer-aided

of which have been written from scratch with the help of

design, a model is made and analysed with softwares such

libraries such ROS for inter process communication and

as Ansys and Solidworks. Redesigning is done until we get

OpenCV for image processing. All these packages combined

proper results through analysis. The Mechanical Subdivision

give the autonomy to the vehicle, making it capable of

develops and tests the prototypes of designed parts to ensure

taking its own decision. The overall architecture of the

that everything fits to solve the problem without creating a

stack is highly object oriented and majorly independent

new one. In-house manufacturing is done by the facilities

of the vehicles. Their code is highly professional, with

provided by IIT Bombay to ensure no defects. Overall,

inbuilt tests and extensive documentation. Apart from

This Subdivision looks after the rigidity, compactness,

coding, another important task for the subdivision is the

robustness of mechanical parts and dynamics of the vehicle.

real life testing, where they physically test their code on the

Software Subdivision

vehicle underwater. The main aim of software subdivision

The Software Subdivision is the subdivision that writes over

order to get the vehicles working at their full potential.

15,000 lines of code to make the AUV Autonomous! They are

PR Division

the ones who are responsible for making the AUV capable

is to write software, that is generic and error free, in

of completing a certain task underwater. They also simulate

The PR Subdivision, also known as the Non-Technical

the tasks and environment in Gazebo software to make the

Subdivision, has six sub departments namely Events,

coding efficient. Their software stack is written majorly in

Design, Marketing, Media, PR and Web forming its

C, C++ and Python. The main packages in the software stack

backbone. The aim of PR is to inform the public, prospective

17

AirspacE

customers, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders and ultimately persuade them to maintain a positive or favorable view about the AUV. We establish and maintain relationships with AUV target audience, the media, relevant trade media, and other opinion leaders. Our common responsibilities include designing communications campaigns, writing press release and other content for news, working with the press, arranging interviews for company spokespeople, acting as an AUV spokesperson, media interviews and speeches, writing website and social media content, managing AUV’s reputation, managing internal communications, and marketing activities like awareness about AUV and competitions in which we participate and related event management.

AUV-IITB uptill now has released 5 vehicles matsya 1,2,3,4 and 5. With Matsya 5.0 being fifth of its series, it has some distinguishing features like •

It has few different sensors to detect several underwater aspects

•

2 camera hulls for vision based detection

•

A DVL(Doppler velocity law) for detection of position

•

A pressure sensor to detect depth

•

A IMU sensor

•

Hydrophones to detect different frequencies underwater

•

All sensors are made waterproof using waterproof enclosure manufactured from aluminum known as Hulls.

•

The sensor and mechanical interface is majorly controlled by Single on board computer, I7 core processor.

Our achievements and glory at glance-

18

18

AirspacE

•

Runners-up at RoboSub 2016 (amongst 50 International teams)

•

Finalists in Robosub 2017

•

Winners at NIOT SAVe 2016 (amongst 14 National teams)

•

Best Performance by an Asian AUV at RoboSub 2016

•

Best Performance by an Indian AUV at RoboSub 2012-17

Now Matsya is not just capable of performing competitions task but as an underwater vehicle have some real life applications as well•

Detecting and Inspecting Underwater Oil Pipelines for leakages (any other repairs)

•

Mapping Dolphins & localising sound sources (plane’s black box can be located & hence the crash site can be found)

•

Military Application (a scaled-up version can be used which can shoot torpedoes, detect manned submarine)

•

Measure physical characteristics of the water, such as temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, detect chlorophyll from microscopic marine algae, and measure concentrations of small particles in the water

•

Search in the shadows where the sonar can’t detect

The team along with preparing for competition also conducts and participates in various campus activities to help foster underwater robotics, e.g, TechConnect (Techfest), Unveiling (Launch of Matsya) and small workshops for school kids.

19

AirspacE

T

he IITB Mars Rover Team was founded in 2012 as a part of the Mars Society India by a group of space enthusiasts.

Mars Society India is the officially recognised Indian

chapter of the International Mars Society. As manned Mars exploration is the next logical step towards further exploring the red planet, our team started working on building technologies that would assist human exploration of Mars. Our rover is designed to perform all the tasks necessary to work with humans on Mars, such as equipment servicing, soil sample collection and equipment retrieval.

We started as a small team of 7-8 students, and used to work at odd places like the aerospace seminar hall, the IDC and classrooms, whichever was available. Our first prototype was a barely functional rover that was made by welding aluminium pipes. Over the years, we got a dedicated lab space, a larger team of enthusiastic students, and most importantly, an exposure to rover technologies. Our subsequent rover prototypes had increasing complexity and functionality, with the last three ones being able to perform all the necessary tasks. Over the years, the team developed a strong understanding of interplanetary rovers and is currently working on some cutting-edge technologies.

The most critical component of our rover is the suspension system, which gives it the ability to traverse really rough terrain. While our previous prototypes used the tried and tested 6 wheel rocker-bogie suspension system, we shifted to a 4 wheeled rover for this year as it gave us a compact design with greater mobility. A robotic arm is mounted on the rover to perform tasks such as equipment servicing and object retrieval. The arm has 3 degrees-of-freedom and has an end effector attached to it that further has 3 degrees-of-freedom. It is designed to lift objects as heavy as 10 kg and also to toggle switches, twist knobs and handle other equipment. Our current rover also has the capability of autonomous traversal, wherein it can navigate to a point given its GPS coordinates, avoiding obstacles along the way. The most important payload of our rover is the soil collection and analysis assembly.

This is designed to collect soil samples to carry out

20

20

MARS

AirspacE

ROVER

some basic tests to determine the feasibility of life. Additionally, this payload has the capability to bring back sealed soil samples back to the base station for further analysis.

Our rover is controlled wirelessly from a base station, and has a range of 1 km. We have also developed a custom GUI for the base station that allows us to efficiently control and monitor the rover, using live video feed as well as sensor data.

Overall, we feel that the technologies we are testing will play a pivotal role in future manned missions to Mars.

Apart from building rovers, we plan to tap into the enormous youth potential of India and motivate the youth towards space research. We feel that our current rover will help us in attaining a strong position internationally and this will help in our mission of collaborating with agencies such as ISRO, DRDO and the Indian Army.

In the long run, we hope to be in the forefront of Mars exploration.

21

AirspacE

RAKSHAK

T

"Pity on those mortals who haven't ever dreamt of flying in any capacity"

he desire to fly is very common and isn’t restricted

Systems International - Student Unmanned Aerial Systems)

to people of the aerospace discipline. In fact, a

competition to be held in Maryland, Virginia, which has

non-aerospace (Chemical Engg) student interested

a problem statement mimicking a disaster scenario.

in aeromodelling and remote-controlled planes led to

Advancement in skills and experience required to achieve

the birth of our team, Rakshak, in 2013. Sandeep, our

our goal of designing UAVs for real life applications can

founder, was a highly skilled frequent flyer who competed

be developed manifold and most effectively by competing

and won at various national RC (Remote Controlled) plane

in such events. The competition has several tasks to foster

competitions, notably reaching the finale of Boeing National

interest in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) technologies

Aeromodelling Competition. The team started with an

and careers, and to engage students in a challenging UAS

initial attempt to compete in RC plane design and flying on

mission. These tasks include autonomous flight including

the highest level. This led us to compete in the SAE (Society

take-off and landing, onboard object detection, classification

of Automobile Engineers) Aero Design 2015 competition

and localization, air delivery and interoperability between

where we secured 7th position in design and 12th position

UAS and competition server.

overall. With time, the team has widened its scope towards

The

real life applications of drones. Currently, we are set to

comprises

of

different

subsystems

–

Aerodynamics, Structures, Image Processing, Controls and

compete in AUVSI-SUAS (Association for Unmanned Vehicle

22

team

22

AirspacE

Communication, Propulsion, and Marketing. The Aerodynamics Subsystem is responsible for the conceptual and preliminary design of the aircraft. Here we apply all the design and analysis techniques taught in the courses offered by the Aerospace Department. The Structures Subsystem does the stress analysis and detailed design which includes the sizing and placement of structural components. The Image Processing Subsystem handles image detection and localization, shape, character and color classification. The Controls and Communication Subsystem is responsible for the autonomous flight, aircraft tracker, interoperability, obstacle avoidance and ground station.

The Propulsion Subsystem chooses the optimal propulsion system among the available options of motors, batteries, propellers, IC engine etc. The marketing subsystem deals with monetary association with sponsors and are overseers of outside vendors and agencies.

To compete in aeromodelling competitions, we have custom-built a number of final planes for the specific missions floated in the competition and many testing planes too which are used for testing the instrumentation and control algorithms. These planes vary in aerodynamic, propulsive and structural configurations according to their mission requirements: be it the first plane with a wing span of somewhere greater than 3 meters to Sandy with a wingspan of 1.5m; from using an IC engine in SAE competition to using self-assembled Lithium-ion batteries in Skywalker; from a plane built for maximum payload ratio to a plane built for an endurance of at least 30 minutes.

Let us now introduce the readers to some of our beauties: Skywalker: Built in 2017, a recent addition to the Team's plane collection. Designed for the AUVSISUAS competition, the plane has an endurance of 30-40 minutes and has a take-off gross weight of 7.5 Kgs. Sandy 1.0: A relatively small plane used for instrumentation testing. This plane was our first test dummy for autonomous flying and has provided excellent results to proceed autonomy to bigger plane.

Sandy 2.0: A variant of Sandy 1.0 with a maximum take-off gross weight of 2.5 Kg and is used for instrumentation testing. It is a highly stable plane but has the capability of performing vertical loop, roll etc maneuvers when let loose, thanks to its twin motors.

SAE Plane: Built in 2015, this plane represented our team in SAE-2015 competition. A stable, robust and payload efficient plane, it allowed us to win 7th place in design and 12th place overall. It has an empty weight of 4.5 Kgs and lifted a payload of 2 Kgs. To describe better as to how it feels to be a part of our team, I’d like to describe an incident that describes the roller coaster of emotions that a project like ours entails. On that day, the team was excited as the construction of the plane for the AUVSI-SUAS competition had come to an end. All the hard work designing it and hours of labour building it had come to fruition. We might have been biased, but it looked better than we imagined. We were all set for the plane to take flight for the first time ever. Everything was checked and rechecked as it felt

23

AirspacE

like you couldn’t be careful enough in the most important stage of preparation. All the control surfaces and motors were tested thoroughly. Then came time for its flight, and slowly as the thrust increased the plane left ground and took off.

Though it was a challenging flight, everything was going great and people felt a sense of accomplishment. It was circling the Gymkhana ground, maybe for the third time, when the disaster happened. All of a sudden, the pilot lost control of the plane and it went spiralling towards the swimming pool. This was our worst nightmare and it took us a moment before we realised what had actually happened. Then we raced frantically to the crash site where we saw a burning mess of wood and plastic which looked nothing like our plane. Thanks to the QRT for their quick response (as their name promises), the flames were put out. There was a small sense of relief that no person was injured but we were just devastated outright. After inspecting the remains it was clear that the loss of control happened due to high load on the elevator which ripped the servo horn out of the foam leading to complete loss of elevator control. This was like one of those Air Crash Investigation episodes come to life where one small servo horn led to all our dreams going up in flames (pun intended). That day taught us how ephemeral flight could be and how fragile our dreams of flying. This incident happened last April and this year, we are back at it, hoping to do better. You might ask why then invest all our heart in something so fickle. I can’t really explain it any better than this quote from Da Vinci: "Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

— Leonardo da Vinci Checkout rest of the details at our website: https://rakshakiitb.github.io/planes.html

24

24

AirspacE

History of the team:

PRATHAM SATELLITE

SATELLITE TEAM

I

n the once busy and populated satellite Iab sat three members, the only three remaining. The project was on the verge of shutdown. There was neither confidence, nor manpower. Just a fine thread by which those three people hung on: their team, the people whose dreams were now their dreams. And those dreams were too powerful to be suppressed by doubt and negativity. The road ahead was long. And those three were ready to make the journey.

Let’s explore the beginning of this dream, transitioning 5 years back, during one of the talks at IIT Bombay, regarding CubeSats, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay (then Aerospace UG student) asked a simple question, “Why can’t we also make a satellite to be launched in orbit?”. The question though being simple started the IIT Bombay’s journey to infinity.

Saptarishi with his fellow batchmate Shashank Tamaskar (also Aerospace UG student) presented the idea of making a student satellite to professors of the department. Professors encouraged them to form a team and prove them in 6 months that they are capable of such a task. And we all know how it turned out.

The MoU was signed with ISRO in August 2007 and the journey started officially. The team worked relentlessly and was quite near the launch around the year 2012. But the international regulations changed and a new requirement was imposed on the satellite: the provision of an Uplink. Now, with only 3 members left, the team was confronted with the monumental task of conducting fresh recruitment, training the new members to finish what the old team had started. But the team didn’t give up. We started again.

The MoU was extended, Pratham was completed and launched. But that is only one way to put it. Pratham while being built by the team, built the team. Many obstacles presented themselves but we overcame them all. The dream seen in the year 2007, was extended to 100+ students of the institute which finally was realized on 26th September 2016. Pratham was launched onboard PSLV C-35. Words cannot describe the moment of lift-off and the separation of Pratham.

They are many memories of this 8-year journey, but they can't be put into the words. Just ask any team member of the significance of the Tum-Tum number 9228. Ask them, “Did you face any problem during testing?”. But beware you may get a long senti answer.

25

AirspacE

Advitiy - The Next Step Towards Infinity

P

ratham was our first step towards the infinity, the dream seen by founding team consisted not just of Pratham.

Rather, they wanted to make IITB a space technology hub in India. For that we have started the Next Step Towards the Infinity - Advitiy.

With Advitiy, our aim is to make a reliable and repeatable bus as of the ~10 student satellites launched by ISRO so far, not even a single mission was 100% successful. Pratham also achieved only 90% success. The payload of Advitiy, transmitting images through SSTV, this will help spread awareness and enthusiasm related to satellite and space technology among the youth and school children of India.

Social Goal: Along with the dream of sending the satellite to space or making IITB a space hub, we included the sharing of the knowledge in our mission. The team has conducted many ground station workshops over the years with aim to encourage the universities in India make a satellite ground station. More than 300 students from over 50 universities have attended these workshops. Many have made their own ground stations or gone over to do PhDs in communications field.

Currently, the team is working on Wiki - Satellite 101. The wiki aims to be the first stop for any student satellite team over India. Since the team began working on IIT Bombay's second satellite, Advitiy around the time this idea was born, we decided to maintain this wiki in parallel to our work on Advitiy so that it can keep evolving with our experience.

What does it mean to be a part of the team?

26

26

AirspacE Following excerpt is written by Sagar, 2nd Year Undergraduate: “Let’s start with the mini project (During the recruitment process). I was alloted Payload subsystem with Dhrumil Shah as a supportive and encouraging mentor. Since most of my work involved reading documents and making presentations, I usually preferred working within the comfort of my room. This had its drawbacks, I was often stuck with terms and theorems; I also ended up diving deep into things which were hardly related to tasks. My mentor suggested me to spend time in lab. I really did not get his point then, but hey! (there was) no harm in trying right?

The first thing I observed is that there’s always someone doing something productive in the lab. The environment surely gives you the motivation to complete your task. Moreover approaching seniors was far easier than I had anticipated. I often found solutions by just talking to them, even though they might not have had much knowledge on the subject. Things were finally moving in the right direction. Our then project manager Ratnesh Mishra often encouraged us to interact more with the people in lab, ask them about their work. So I slowly started talking to new people, making friends and learning so much from them not just technical stuff but about life too.

Nearing the end of 2nd Semester, I was really confused about taking up POR’s and doing projects in the Institute. I was thinking about becoming an AA in NIC, NSS and also had to manage Academics. These topics came up while having random talks with my mentor Dhrumil.

He was such a help, the talk with him cleared my thought process. He gave me an idea of the load he was handling in the current semester, and examples of seniors like Yash Sanghvi, I was inspired.

Although a member of Payload subsystem, I had an interest in dealing with Electrical systems too. So one evening, I was sitting by myself, and one of the senior members Virul Katla, came to me.

We had a chat and I told him about my interest in joining Electrical Subsystem, he was happy to know. Then we were talking about data transmission and stuff; I asked him how do we know whether the received data was the correct or not? He enlightened me to the concept of parity and gave a digital logic problem to solve. Which I presented to him the next day and asked him if I could do something hands-on. Not only did he allow me, he also helped me with where to start and how to go about things.

While joining tech team I always had that fear of compromising with Academics. But honestly, my CPI has only increased after I joined the team. Don’t wanna miss out on Treats which were infi fun !! We got to hear to stories about our seniors and how human they were, in spite of having achieved so much in life.

Lastly I found a family !! The team is a part of who I am and what I will be !

Following is written by Sukanya Kudva, 2nd Year Undergraduate: I had once asked a fellow teammate what kept her motivated to constantly push herself and strive for the project. Her answer was simple yet very ambitious- Advitiy is an opportunity to represent the student community of the country, it is a chance to initiate something big, to encourage more students to venture into the field of satellite making. This might seem like a very ideal answer, so let me make another attempt to explain why we all feel so connected to the team. Ask anybody what the team means to them and I’ll bet most of them would tell you it is like family to them. You might think of this as a cliched answer but I assure you there is a deep reason behind why we feel that way.

When a new recruit, almost everybody comes with a zeal to learn, do and explore something new. And somehow over time the focus shifts from ‘you’ to ‘us’. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when this transition happens. With time you blend into the team so much so that you find it hard to define yourself individually as a team member. All that remains in the end is the team and the common dream of Advitiy.

The working environment in the team is very unconventional. No matter what choices you make, what priorities you have and what decisions you take, you’ll still be supported. The best part I think is that everybody is respected.Yes, there is a lot freedom but surprisingly this I think is one the best ways to make somebody take responsibility for their work.

The bonding in the team is not limited to work. Personal or academic, whatever may the problem be, there’ll always be somebody to lend their ears to you. And you know you’d do the same for them. Everybody is so helpful and willing to do anything for anyone. We celebrate birthdays together and also go on treats together to celebrate accomplishments of fellow teammates. This is so true- the team makes you more than you make the team.

27

AirspacE

Pratham Technical Details: Payload

To estimate Total Electron Count(TEC) over India and Paris

Structure

Dimensions: 30.5 cm X 33.5 cm X 46.6 cm Mass: 10.15 Kg Aluminum 6061 T6 Body

Sensors & Actuators

6 X Sun Sensor; 1 X Magnetometer; 1 X GPS; 3 X Magnetorquers

RF Communications

3 Antennas: 437.455 MHz Downlink; 145.98 MHz Beacon; 437.455 MHz Uplink 8.4V Li-Ion Battery and 4 Solar Panels

Orbit

670 Km, Sun Synchronous Orbit

Launch

26th September 2016; PSLV C-35

Mission Life

4 Months

Ground Station

Power

28

28

AirspacE

Ham Radio Club, IIT Bombay Early a

f

t

e

r

successful deployment of Pratham into orbit, the ground station of Pratham faced problems in being able to receive signals from the satellite. A major reason behind this was due to lack of constant use of the ground-station as well as a gap in knowledge related to how radiocommunications. This made us realise that

Technical C o u n c i l

even though the institute has good number of

aimed

students interested in radio-communications,

enthusiasm

they are not well organized and getting it

exploring radio-communications

organized could develop the overall culture

and to establish a group, which

in this unique and demanding field. Hence, the club was convened to support informal learning in the radio-communications with an aim to get hands-on experience.

The Ham Radio Club is a collaboration between

the

Student

Satellite

could

cater

to

the towards

participate activities

related

in

various

ham

across

India.

A ham radio works even when all forms of communication fail. It varies from go getter emergency communicators to casual chatters

Project and the Electronics

to workshop tinkerers. Hams use all sorts of radios and antennas on a wide variety of

and Robotics club of

frequencies to communicate with other hams

the Institute of

across town and around the world. They communicate using microphones, telegraph or Morse keys, computers, cameras, lasers, and even their own satellites. But you won’t get the feel just by reading this.

As one could very rightly suggest: “You

cannot

without

understand

actually

it

doing

it�. It involves great deal

of

29

AirspacE

TEAM SHUNYA

H

ave you ever wondered about a house which runs

net-positive energy consumption, modular

on zero electricity and also generates electricity

house to cater the needs of Amaravati, People's

for future use? Well, this idea isn't that far-fetched

Capital of Andhra Pradesh (future smart city of

at all. A student team from IIT Bombay has successfully built

India). The house is constructed using hybrid

such a house which is fully functional with sufficient lighting,

construction methodology, with prefabricated

air conditioning, well furnished with three rooms and a

steel floor grids, which will be placed on the

kitchen. The house runs on solar energy using rooftop solar

columns without welding on-site. The walls

panels and not just uses zero electrical energy from the grid

are made up of wall panels having three

but also is capable to generate and feed excess energy to the

layers, providing a good insulation from the

grid on a bright sunny day. The name of this fascinating team

environment. This would drastically reduce the

of passionate young engineering and architecture students

construction time. The house will be equipped

is “Team SHUNYA” where SHUNYA stands for ‘Sustainable

with HVAC system, Home Automation and

Habitat for an Urbanizing Nation by its Young Aspirants’.

modular wiring to reduce the complexity

Team Shunya is a group of IIT Bombay students building a solar-powered modular house. Team Shunya has taken up the challenge of developing state of art technology and use it for designing, constructing and operating a modular, solar-powered 'Net Positive Energy' house.

Team Shunya is currently working on Project Solarise in which they are building a Ground + 1 storey, 1800 sq.ft, solar powered,

30

and enhance safety. The house has a facade which is taken up from traditional Indian Architecture of 'Jaali'. The facade is responsible for diffused lighting to enhance the living comfort, apart from reducing the heat load of the house. It adds up a great aesthetic value to the house.

Team Shunya is the only team from India to participate at Solar Decathlon China 2018, an international competition that

30

AirspacE challenges student teams to design, build, and operate highly

energy-efficient,

completely

solar-powered

houses. It will be jointly held by China National Energy

•

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd.

•

Sleek Internationals P Ltd.

•

BSH Household Appliances Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd.

•

Waaree Energies Ltd.

•

Veka India Pvt. Ltd.

•

Epitome

•

Armstrong World Industries Pvt. Ltd.

•

EcoTech Engineers and Consultants

•

KiTEC Industries (INDIA) Pvt. Ltd.

•

Sahyadri Industries Ltd.

Administration, the Department of Energy (DOE, USA) and the China Association for Overseas Industry Development.

All the teams would have to design and construct the solar-powered house in their respective countries, disassemble it and re-assemble at the competition venue which is Dezhou City, Shandong in July-Aug 2018.

The house needs to be constructed completely by students in 12 days at the competition.

After a lot of dedicated effort, the team has completed the design of the house and has started with the house construction.

The team embarked on the next phase of its ceremony with a House Construction Inaugural

Ceremony.

Prof.

Devang

Khakhar, Director of IIT Bombay was the chief guest. The event was also attended by all the Deans and several distinguished

professors.

The

event

started with the Bhoomi Pujan followed by the inauguration of the construction of our Team Shunya house by Prof.Devang

• •

Khakhar, Director of IIT Bombay. Such a

The project is a unique amalgamation of academia

grand student effort has only been possible

and industry working hand in hand to serve one

due to the support of the team’s industrial

of the most pressing problems in the country.

sponsors. Few of its major sponsors being:

The team still has a long way to go and is working day

Lloyd Insulations Pvt. Ltd. Ravin Group

• Entelechy Systems •

and night to make India proud.

If collaborated with

government bringing in private investments will lead to mass production and thus the technology could reach the middle class Indian population at affordable rates

Johnson Controls India

31

AirspacE Here is a painting

He modeled it using Maya and rendered it in Cycles Blender.

For more, you can visit ajinkyameshram. artstation.com

Here is a computerised model of the same place made by Ajinkya Meshram, a 3rd year undergraduate, Aerospace Engineering.

32

32

AirspacE This is a pic of the process involved

Here is another of his creations

33

AirspacE

On the same lines, his roommate, Peeyush Ramteke, another 3rd year undergraduate, has made this fantabulous and accurate model of a centrifugal compressor in Blender!

They require placing virtual lights and a virtual camera after designing the scene, and then the rendering makes the lights come from those angles, making it like an actual movie shoot, just animated.

34

34

AirspacE

Here are some of the scenes he has created.

To see more of his work, you can view his Instagram profile @pnp.peeyush 35

AirspacE

Q&Awith profs

~ AYUSH DUBEY AND HIMANSHU PRAKASH, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

2ND YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

During my BTech days at IIT Kanpur, I never thought I will ever go anywhere close to teaching as a profession. But research seemed exciting, and I hence wanted to pursue it.

In your opinion, what has been the change in the student quality? Has there been a change in what the students are focussing on?

The students now are much more aware of what is happening around them and across the world.

Awareness is good, when used in a constructive way.

Prof. Krishnendu Sinha

What hobbies do you pursue in your free time?

I like running, playing squash, swimming at times, photography and reading books (both fiction and

Could you kindly enlighten us on the

non-fiction). Birding as a hobby has been newly

achievements in your student life?

acquired with my son.

I had secured the Institute silver medal for being the

What will be your success mantra for the

topper in Aerospace engineering department at IIT

students and your vision for the future of our

Kanpur.

country?

Many students are of the opinion that

Success can be in anything, but first things first.

professors are those who have always scored

While at IITB, achieve success in academics,

an AA or AP in their BTech days, got a good

before other successes. By success in academics, I

Institute Rank, and if an AB student wants to

would mean an average grade in all your course, if

become a professor, it will be hard for him/

not a high grade. For success in courses -- attend

her. How true is that?

lectures, do homework/tutorials and do not miss exams/quizzes. May be that's too much to ask, but

That's not true. I did get some AB's and BB's in my

it is the easiest way i.e. shall require the least time

BTech!

commitment to get a decent grade in a course.

As a student, how did you see yourself in the future?

36

36

AirspacE How was your early college life? Can you tell us some interesting anecdotes about it?

I have studied at the Don Bosco school in Borivali, Mumbai.

I was very good in sports. I was in the cricket team and used to play lawn tennis, table tennis, etc. regularly. After my board exams in 10th, I was very confident of scoring great marks. So, I started looking for the best college for science in the state. I zeroed in on Jai Hind college. When my results came, I discovered I had scored 74.80%.

I gathered that the cutoff percentage for admission to Jai Hind was 80%. I reached Jai Hind anyways with my mark sheet. There, the list started out with above 85%, then came to 80% and subsequently, those who had scored slightly above 75% were called for the few seats

Prof. Rajkumar Pant

left. Notwithstanding my slightly lower than the final cutoff marks, I got into the room. Professors there asked each of us our marks. When I disclosed my percentage, they quipped as to how I got into the room in the first place. I told them that though the other students have a higher percentage than me, I may actually be better than them and that they could verify if they wanted to. The professor agreed and asked me some questions. I told the correct answers without faltering. I also told them I had no backup plan as I hadn't taken forms of any other college.

Eventually, I managed to procure my admission at Jai Hind

of a college in Chandigarh, which has 90 seats reserved for people who have done their 12th from Chandigarh.

I appeared in the IIT examination, I couldn't get in. I appeared in several other exams as well but could not get through any. And my marks in class 12 were 63.8%. (I realized later on that I was actually in top 200 in Punjab!)

When I went to this college for admissions, there was a single seat left and 2 of us eyeing it. Both of us had the same marks, but he was senior to me by age, so it was decided

college.

that he would get it. After 15 days, hoping for someone to

My father was posted in Chandigarh. I was thus pursuing

BSc honours in Physics at the Punjab University. On 30th

my Class 11th in Mumbai. When my half yearly exams in 11th were held, I felt I wasn’t up to the mark. To add to it, I was being rusticated over some issue in the hostel of my stay. My uncle, who lived in Borivali, was my local Guardian. He requested for voluntary withdrawal in place of rustication. The college agreed and I withdrew in the summer vacation. After that, I tried securing admission into almost every college in Mumbai but couldn’t get into any. In the meantime, my father had come to Mumbai on official duty. He took me to Chandigarh along with him.

There, we went to DAV college principal there, where they had an empty seat. Thus, I took admission in class 12 after 6 months.

I thus had to shift from a system where we had various subjects such as biology along with maths to a system

cancel his admissions to go to some other college, I joined July 1979, the day of cancellation of seats, no one came. But luckily, I was among the rare ones in those days to have a telephone at home. I had given the number to the principal too. I told him that if something could be done regarding the admissions, do let me know. Around 4:30 pm, there was a call on the landline. My grandfather picked up the phone, and he was informed that there was one seat which had been vacated. But the fee had to be paid within an hour by 5:30 pm to book the seat. At the time, my father was out of station. So, my grandfather asked his colleague, Mr. Joshi, to work some way out of the situation. Mr. Joshi started sort of a small collection fund and was able to raise the required amount of money. He then rushed on his scooter to the office and was able to reach just within a few minutes of the closing time. Finally, after such high-octane drama, the

where there's bifurcation right from 9th grade in terms of

admission had been secured.

their stream of interest. I found it quite difficult and thus

The seat which I had secured was in Aerospace. This is how

scored poorly in the exams. Thankfully, we got to know

I got into the Aerospace field.

37

AirspacE How was your life during Btech?

There were around 380 students in my batch. When I left the college, I ended up being in the top 15 overall. I was 5th in my own branch.

I held the position of the Secretary of the Department of Aerospace and Astronomy Society, of which Late Kalpana Chawla was the President. She was a year ahead of me, and hence I had worked with her in that capacity during my third year. Oddly though, I didn't pursue any sports activity in my Btech days.

People often think that to be a professor at a reputed, top-tier Institute, you need to have a tremendous academic record with substantial achievements in undergraduate studies.

How true do you think it is? What has your experience been like?

This, in my opinion, is more of an assumption and a misconception than a reality. Generally, it is observed that only those who are good in academics pursue higher studies.

But being good in academics doesn't necessarily mean you have to neglect the other areas. I was very frustrated when I started in my department because I wanted to do Electrical. When I took up Aerospace, my seniors discouraged me too and I got demoralized initially. In the 2nd year, we had a course on strength of materials.

The professor of that course taught us in a way that made us all deeply interested in engineering. He inspired us so much that we got highly motivated towards our branch. We realized that Aerospace was in fact, quite interesting.

The second thing which motivated me was my internship. We used to be allotted internships based on our merit standing.

Now, the student who had a department rank of 4 was very close friends with me.

He suggested that wherever we go for internships, we would go together. We went to VSSC in Trivandrum for our internship. The kind of exposure and mentorship we received there really opened our eyes regarding Aerospace. This was how I got deeply involved in this field.

Prof. Aniruddha Sinha 38

38

AirspacE Can you guide the students as to what to do, and

What changes would you like to incorporate in

more importantly what not to do in their student

the current curriculum to make it more practical

life.

and less redundant? Something which might

About my student life, initially I took a straight path towards academics only. After doing my undergraduate, I worked in TCS. After working for 5 years in TCS, I realized

have been of importance 20 years ago but is now useless might be scrapped and new topics might be brought in.

that I could do the given task quite well. I think that was

The fundamentals that are being taught are always

an important realization. If you directly go into academics,

relevant, and good knowledge of these fundamentals

you might not directly know what you have missed out

is very important. Even if you are not using these

upon. If you are planning for a career in academics,

fundamentals, the training and thought process that is

you might want to explore for at least 1 or 2 years in a

cultivated is always relevant all throughout your life.

different environment. If that is really something that you

Apart from that, removing redundant things is a necessity.

do not like, it’s good, but if not then you have got more

Earlier there were workshop practices, but now that

experience to make a good choice. Just because you like

has been reduced owing to changing times and their

academics, so it does not mean that you should confine

redundancy.

yourself to academics only.

Many students are of the opinion that professors are those who have always scored an AA or AP in their BTech days, got a good Institute Rank, and if

What hobbies do you pursue in your free time?

I like to read and watching suspense thrillers.

What is the most hilarious incident to have

an AB student wants to become a professor, it will

happened in any of your classes as a professor?

be hard for him/her. How true is that?

It was last semester itself, in the middle of the semester,

I was also a average student and now i am a professor.

before delivering the lecture, I had seen the extra face

And about the hardships, it is everywhere in every career line. What is required is your planning for your career.

As a student, how did you see yourself in the future?

I was from a family with academic background, so I have always tried for academics only.

In your opinion, what has been the change in the student quality? Has there been a change in what the students are focussing on?

Nowadays, there are many different career paths for students, earlier there were limited options only. For example, i see students quite interested in dance. As a faculty advisor, my initial instinct is to not look upon that as a very good option but then there are people who are doing well with their career in dance. I cannot say that academics as a student quality may have changed, but

in the class. I asked her who are you, are you attending this lecture for the first time? It turned out that she has done a makeover, and I didn’t recognise her, even though i have seen her for half a semester, but then also i didn’t recognise her due to her makeover!

Is there a gap between faculty and students? What can be done to bridge it?

No, I have been meeting with the students of 2nd year, and i think they are quite interested in the course. I have heard from faculty advisors that students of 3rd year or 4th year are not very much interested in the course.

People say that the research aptitude is decreasing in IITs. How true do you feel is this statement?

No, it is not decreasing. Many incredible students are doing research.

definitely students now know better what they want to do in their life.

39

AirspacE

Vidya Roopen Sansthita This resplendent bewitching enchantress of a painting which will just leave you spellbound and staring at it for hours together! Made by Mr. Wankhede P D, it lies unattended in a corner near the LTA (Lighter Than Air) systems laboratory.

40

40

AirspacE

Winning entry for the CoPT logo design competition Description: The logo for Centre of Propulsion Technology, created by Tarun Mugunthan, a sophomore from Industrial Design Centre. His entry won in the logo design competition, competing against 79 other entries for a cash prize of â‚š20,000.

41

G SPORTS

The Post Graduate sportspersons of Aerospace have excelled in sweating it out and here is the list of their achievements in various sports General Competitions.

AirspacE

Silver in Squash PG GC Players: Jagapathi Babu Batchu, Kshijith, Sriram Sharma, Vignesh, Raghav

Bronze in Cricket PG GC Cricket players: Jagapathi Babu Batchu, Sriram Sharma, Abhilash Saikiran, Ranjit Kumar, Sekhar, Deepesh, Sourav Bagel, Pranav Thakare, Bhasker Ramagiri, Rohit, Aravind, Rahul Bennal, Ashish Bodia, Rahul

Gold in Badminton Girls PG GC The winners Harshal, Sonia and Rithuwer with Sports Secretary Jagapathi Babu Batchu

43

G CULTURALS

Aerospace department ‘shocked’ everyone with their spectacular performance in PG Cult Phase 1. We mention the achievers here, and apologise if someone has been missed.

a) Dance - Ambri and Shabnam Bano bagged the 3rd prize in Duet Dance b) Literary Arts - Adway Gupta and Ramya Ranjan Rath achieved 3rd position in the Quiz c) Fine Arts - Deepak Kumar finished 2nd in Anna Cap Painting; Ambri, Manish and Heerala came 2nd in Rangoli Making. We also stood 1st in Flag Making. d) Film Making - Vamsi Kiran stood 1st and the team of Ambri Alria, Mudassir Ali and Soniya Verma finished 3rd in the Video Editing competition,

while

Sayyed

Mudassir Ali and Ambri’s team also won the Spoof a Scene competition. e)

Music

-

Bharath

H

Seetharaman came 1st in the Instrumental Solo f) Photography - Manish Singh bagged the top place g) Classical and Folk Arts - Bharath, one of the best violin players this institute has seen, finished 1st in the Raag Rang competition h) Design - Sayyed Muddasir Ali bagged the 2nd place in the Sci-Fi Landscape Designing Competition

AirspacE

In PG Cult Phase 2, we were pooled in Pool 1 with CESE, CPS, and Energy Science, and we went on to win the dance competition with a performance transcending boundaries. A love story that ends in a tragic partition, and a message on communal harmony. Tears dwelled in each one’s eyes at the last scene of their performance.

Such is the power of dance.

45

AirspacE

INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE: AIRBUS

~ AYUSH KHANDELWAL, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING, 3RD YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

T

he Internship JAF for Airbus had opened in February. It was one of the few core Companies open for sophomores, but I

didn't have much hope of getting selected. I had to select 5 profiles out of some 30 odd profiles offered by them. After a long wait, I was shortlisted in April for one of the profiles. It was followed by a​telephonic interview in which​I was asked about the projects I had done in the institute, followed by a few basics

as you complete your 40 hours of work per week.

Work in Bangalore here is done in collaboration with Airbus Europe. The work environment at Airbus is very friendly. Everyone is more than happy to help in case of any problems or doubts.

The atmosphere is reminiscent of the institute with people calling each other by their names, but respecting each other at the same time.

questions involving my core courses. When the results

Bangalore has a lot of great places to visit nearby.

came out, I was immensely surprised to be selected!

I have been on Weekend trips to Puducherry and

I was very excited right from the moment the tyres of my flight touched down at the Bangalore airport. The company had arranged for the flight tickets

Coorg. Other getaway places include Ooty, Munnar and Kodaikanal. All the places are such that an avid traveller must have them on their travel bucket-list.

and accommodation for first 2 weeks.

The hotel rooms were awesome

If there's one thing

and shifting from the hotel to a

I

paying guest arrangement at the

have

learnt

Bangalore,

in the

end of the fortnight was not

home of CCD, is

easy, but it turned out to be an

drinking

coffee.

interesting and one-of-its-kind

One

should

experience.

Disclaimer:

food

definitely

can be a problem in Bangalore if

you

are

to

the

South

My

internship

not

accustomed

Indian project

There are also a lot

cuisine. was

try

filter coffee here. of good restaurants at MG road, Koramangala

related

and

to analysis of weights of different cabin configurations of aircrafts. Details of the project

Summarising,

I

Indira surely

have

Nagar. learnt

can’t be disclosed but it's quite interesting and gices

a lot about working in core industry and

one quite an experience of the industry as well as

how small things add up in delivering an

hands-on work required in the same. Our office is

engineering marvel as complex as an aircraft.

open 24×7 and I can come and go anytime as long

46

46

AirspacE

AEROACOUSTICS:

A MUSICAL JOURNEY OF PALASH ~ PALASH WAGHMARE, ALUMNUS, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

I was a pretty shy guy, and then IIT happened to me.

lot of people just like me who wanted to start learning

Talking to an immediate family member (of course

music, but couldn't due to the then structure of the

with some exceptions) was as dreadful for me as was

club. This created a drive in me to do something for the

talking to a stranger. Unless of course it was about

music scene and I went on to take up PoRs (Positions

music or space. I always wanted to pursue music.

of Responsibility) for music. I served as the hostel

But thanks to my family’s financial, temporal and

music secy of Hostel 5, wherein I learnt a lot of things,

domestic constraints I couldn't start at an early age.

developed a good reputation among music circles and

When I entered IIT, I was exposed to this plethora of activities where all you needed to do was one thing - Talk. And that's how I started with this alien

gained an understanding of how culturals at IITB works.

This lead me contesting for the Institute Music Secretary and finally bring some changes for the campus.

skill. I started learning the guitar in Paathshaala, the

I strived to change the format of Cult School, include

then cult school. A series of 10 classes gave me the

more freshmen participation, making club more

initial thrust but the passion, the urge to pursue it

transparent and informally available, innovating on

had to come from within. I see a lot of people picking

sound technologies, senior mentoring

up the guitar and keeping it for dust to gorge on it simply because 'it was too hard'. Learning guitar, like everything else, has a threshold point. If you can manage to practice and stick through bruised fingers and banging your head to songs on the roads and in lectures for some initial time, you're good to go.

Aerospace seemed to be a pretty chill branch and I could manage my acads well with the extra curriculars I was doing. Truth is, I really didn't manage any acads in my first sem and ended up having a miniscule CPI. I tried to compensate for that during my second sem along with religious

and professional workshops to name a few. Of course it was tough to manage all this given I had started realising that aero is not really a chill branch and demands commitment. I had hardly slept for more than 5 hrs daily most of my 3rd year. But in retrospect it all turned out to be for good. The hardships, or rather experiences, you

face

transform

your

personality

mentally

as well as professionally and it was evident. I could speak to anyone more confidently and was performing better than my expectations at most of the things, including academics.

practice on my guitar. And guess what, it

All this brings me to give just one advice.

was possible to manage both very well!

Look up to yourself, don't underestimate

It boosted my confidence and made me more focused. I started hanging out with the music club folks and realised there are a

what you can do by considering it to be insignificant. All it takes is the initial thrust. In thrust, we trust! \m/

AirspacE

AMAN ~ AMAN THANGELLAPALLY, METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, 3RD YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

People have various hobbies, some very grounded

fly a slightly different model is so fascinating, it

(pun intended) and some very very adventurous.

inspires us to keep making new ones. As interesting

Recently a hobby has been gathering quite

as this hobby might seem, it has a barrier that one

a few eyeballs in India - AEROMODELLING!

has to cross. When one crashes their first plane, they hesitate to put it back together, under "fear".

So what does it include? Is it just building an RC

Once that fear is neglected and when you get

plane? No. It includes ubercool activities like

racing

the practice, it surely gives you

quadcopters,

one of the best times

building gliders as jet

well

of your life. "The

as

powered

feeling

planes. When I built my

are

first plane and saw it lifting off the ground, it was the most memorable moment of my life.

something

that

is

you

flying!!"

Aeromodelling Club IITB wishes to develop a flying culture in our institute through L.F.S

It is a fun filled, adventurous learning

(Lukka Flying Sessions), to get a group of people

experience, and a place where theory meets

together who love flying and have fun!

practice. The difference you feel when you

48

controlling

that

48

AirspacE

MOJA PODRÓŻ DO POLSKI ~ DHAWAL GAWANDE, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING, 3RD YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

I

t is my utmost privilege and pleasure to share with you

I was deeply stunned by their humble hosting as well as

my fabulous experience to Poland- Poznań AIESEC

respect for my culture and their affectionate care. I am also

Global Education for 8 weeks. My AIESEC experience

quite happy with the priceless knowledge, experience and

was one of the best moments of my life. First time conducting a lesson in a foreign country, teaching students about our culture and the UN goals to taking on new adventures and trips with people I befriended there, was something I didn’t expect.

training I gained during these weeks.

Now, a question which arises is ‘Why I chose Poznań, Poland ?’. I was looking for something different. Most students want to have an experience or an internship which, say would enhance their skills in a particular subject or a project intern

During my journey, I have had an insightful experience that

under a professor ‘or’ a university intern (which undoubtedly

has not only affected my

is

perspectives,

experience

but

also

a

learning

of others. Sharing and

itself).

exchanging the richness

I

of Indian culture has

something

inspired

a

bunch

What

wanted

was

of

that

would

polish teachers, students

help

develop

and

my

host

families.

Transmitting food,

Indian

qualities,

music,

awareness,

buildings,

solution oriented

dance,

historical traditions

leadership

etc.

has

skills

self

and

also

aroused polish students

enable

as well as host families

understanding

to eagerly visit India.

as

Thanks to this project I

Citizen.

was able to disseminate

a

my Global In

all,

I did learn a lot

the SDG goals by United Nations as well as the Indian culture

from my project and my travel experience and it has made

and norms in six different high schools around Poznań. It

me a different person and has opened new challenges and

is also noteworthy to express my appreciative sentiments

possibilities.

concerning the Polish hospitality, culture and generosity.

49

AirspacE

My Encounter with the Placement Season

~ SHRAVAN TANGUDU, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING, 4TH YEAR UNDERGRADUATE

People in suits running all around the place, students in the corridor practicing lines they prepared, officials aggressively crosschecking lists, happy faces, sad faces, tense faces and in all this commotion all I could do to remain calm was tap my leg silently and wait for my name to be called for the interview...

It was just two months before the start of placements when I realised that I wasn’t interested in research anymore. Even though I was immensely interested in engineering I still needed some time before jumping in to do a masters or PhD. I soon shifted my main focus towards placements but also had my portfolio ready to apply for universities in case something goes wrong.

I started off attempting the mock aptitude tests regularly and attending pre placement talks conducted by the companies. The practice tests were quite beneficial and helped me get past the first screening of some companies. When the portal for job applications was opened I narrowed my job preferences to mainly core engineering and some coding profiles. After a month of giving aptitude tests and writing SOPs for various companies all I managed to do was get shortlisted in only one company. This made me lose confidence but the company that I was

50

shortlisted for was Sony Corporation. The job profile was extremely interesting and also the place of posting was abroad. Instead of having any second thoughts I decided to give it my all and set aside all the other things I was doing.

For the two weeks after endsem exams till my interview all I did was read articles and watch videos on how to tackle interviews. I prepared answers for all kinds of questions they could ask me, be it technical or HR. I also spent significant time revising all that I learnt in the past three and half years and also went through courses of the mechanical department. I read various research papers to get updated about the recent developments in the field. I wanted to be as thorough as possible with my preparation as I felt I would not get such an opportunity again anytime soon.

The day of the interview I had 2 of my friends accompany me till the venue, they helped lighten the mood. But after reaching, looking at so many students in suits reading and reciting lines they prepared made me tense. After a 5 minute wait I was called inside for the interview. The interview started off with a discussion on my resume and internships and what all skills I acquired while studying. They indirectly tried to hint that they wanted a mechanical engineer for the job but

50

AirspacE my efforts to link aerospace subjects to mechanical was quite successful. After a while they were convinced that I had the knowledge and skills that they were looking for. The HR part of the interview was a bit tricky as both the interviewers were Japanese and asked question about Japan and how I would manage to stay abroad.

All in all, after two interview rounds I did manage to get the job and was offered a position in their Robotics division in Tokyo.

Some tips for those who plan to sit for placements in the future - Speaking skills do matter!! You need to be able to express yourself no matter what interview

you are sitting for - You need to be extremely clear about what you want, don’t apply for a job that you know won’t suit you - Talk to seniors, they actually want you to ask them as they don’t want you to repeat their mistakes Even though all this happened in a span of just 3 months it seemed like an arduous journey.

But I’m happy I decided to sit for placements as I got to learn a lot about myself and about the outside world. All my efforts in the past years in the institute paid off be it academics, sports or technical activities. All your resume can do is take you till interview, rest is all upto you.

51

AirspacE

THE QUEEN OF DANCE ~ P'RANI'TA NIKAM, 4TH YEAR UNDERGRADUATE, AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

I have always loved dancing. It’s my 1st love. I learnt Bharatnatyam for 3 years and performed on a few stages before coming to IIT. Though I had a dance background, I was not confident enough to participate in freshiezza dance competition which is one of the easiest competition to participate in. I was introduced to the InSync club seniors by one of my friends and then my journey of dance began. After performing in an event and participating in a few jammings, came the auditions for Mood Indigo dance competition and Annual InSync’s Dance Show (AIDS). Getting selected for Mood I was a really big thing. I was one of the six freshers who were selected, this thing really boosted my confidence. We won the 2nd prize in Mood I and then there was no stopping. I performed in every possible event. I participated in few inter college competitions. As a cultural mentor in my 2nd year I got a chance to interact with juniors and motivate them.

I always tried to learn new dance forms and improve my skills. As a Choreohead in AIDS, I choreographed styles like Lavni and waltz, aiming to introduce people to new styles.

I further choreographed Lavni sequences in hostel 10’s Gyrations performance and InterIIT group dance performance. Leading my own hostel’s dance team for gyrations was an amazing experience. We bagged the 1st position in InterIIT and 3rd in Gyrations. I ended my dance journey at IIT Bombay with a solo Lavni performance at Institute Classical Folk Arts Night 2018.

Managing academics in aerospace alongwith being a Core Group Member of Mood Indigo and following passion of dance was not an easy task. But it was all worth it. My little bit of contribution to the dance culture of the institute is now being recognised by Institute Cultural Citation Award.

All those efforts and hard work helped me to grow as a person. Every time I went on stage I tried to be better than last time, I tried to be a better version of myself. And I’m going to follow that funda for my entire life. Believe in yourself, follow your heart, you’ll enjoy every moment of it.

52

52

AirspacE

AEA Council Work Report

Constantly flooding your feeds and freshmen groups with lectures or events taking place every week, Aerospace Engineering Association has soared to new heights under the able leadership of Athul Viswam, the Department General Secretary, and cleanly executed by the 16-membered council. The revolutionary A Question A Day (AQAD) series was a huge succes where a question was put up on department’s facebook page with winners being decided and rewarded with mementos every week. It gained quite a popularity and thrice it has happened that the week’s runner was a Chemical sophomore. The aim of AEA is not just to cater to the department, but to all students enthusiastic about aerospace in general and people participating in AQAD across departments and even from out of the institute was a huge success in achieving this mission.

We do not have a department fest, but we have more than compensated for this by conducting a plethora of events distributed throughout the two semesters. Although not an exhaustive list, here is a broad overview of the events conducted by AEA, in a chronological order.

1. Talk on Stress Without Strain by Prof. Rajkumar Pant.

2. Freshmen orientation, a 4 hr affair which included AQAD prize distribution, a game of housie by Prof. Pant, pizza party and senior junior interaction.

3. Aero Day, which had a baffling Aero Quiz clubbed with Kurta Day amidst a lot of fun and refreshments.

4. CoPT Logo Design Competition, which received a whopping number of 80 entries 5. Flight Testing Lecture by Mr. Jitendra Singh, who was involved in testing of A350 airplane.

6. Movie screening of Sully, a movie based on the miraculous landing of a A320 on the Hudson river after the plane surged due to a bird hit.

7. Lecture on the Rosetta mission, landing on a comet, and how is a comet defined cosmologically, by two eminent professors from the Open University, Mrs. Mary Grady and Mr. Iain Wright.

8. The fun and science of flying: a session conducted for 250 students from Poddar school studying in 6th, 7th and 8th grades to enthuse them towards aerospace, hosted by Prof. Krishnendu Sinha.

9. Conducted an industrial visit to Thakur Institute of Aviation Technology a DGCA recognised institute for aircraft maintenance. Apart from other technologies, entering the cockpit of B747, seeing a flight simulator and a working business jet made the day for every of the 19 participants.

10. The department trip is scheduled to take place on the long holiday weekend, apart from an industrial visit planned to take place on 11th April to HEMRL (High Energy Materials Research Laboratory)

53

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING ASSOCIATION

Athul V Departme Secr

Apurv Tiwari

Jagapathi Babu Batchu

Media Nominee

PG Representative

Aditya Singhal

Kersagar Ra

Deputy DGSec

Deputy

Himanshu Prakash

Atharva Khandait

Media Nominee

Web Nominee

Arjun Rahar 2nd Year Class Representative

Chandrapr

Web N

COUNCIL 2017-18

Viswam ent General retary

Deputy DGSec

y DGSec

Nominee

Design Nominee

Vrushabh Parsawar

anjit Kumar

rakash Saini

Aditya Patil

Venkat Sai Bojja MTech 1st Year Class Representative

Abhay Jindal

Ayush Dubey

Web Nominee

Media Nominee

Komal Swami 1st Year Class Representative

Prof. Aniruddha Sinha Prof. Krishnendu Sinha Prof. Rajkumar Pant

Edited by: Apurv tiwari ayush dubey himanshu prakash

designed by: aditya patil

Aditya Patil

Himanshu Prakash

Ajinkya Meshram

Jagapathi Babu Batchu

Aman Thangellapally

MSI Team

Anmol Sikka

Palash Waghmare

Apurv Tiwari

Peeyush Ramteke

Athul Viswam

Pranita Nikam

AUV Team

Pujan Biswas

Ayush Dubey

Rakshak Team

Ayush Khandelwal

Kersagar Ranjit Kumar

Dhawal Gawande

Sakshay Bhatia

Ham Radio Club Team

Satellite Lab Team

Harshal Joshi

Shunya Team Shravan Tangudu